In 1998, Indonesia embarked on a journey to democracy. This journey involved the decentralization of education from 2002. The new school-based management (SBM) system required greater community and parental participation in schools--thereby, it was hoped, contributing to a deepening of democracy. Islamic schools ("madrasah") also adopted this policy reform. Here we present the findings of our research into community participation in "madrasah" in Indonesia. One of our principle findings, and concerns, is the low level of parental and community participation in "madrasah" governance. Parents feel they have no place in school governance or in teaching and learning. There is a concentration of power in the hands of principals, teachers and school founders (of private "madrasah"). In general, participation by teachers in "madrasah" governance is increasing. Also, there are examples of excellent "madrasah", where the principals devolve power and responsibility to other teachers, cooperate with parents and community leaders, model exemplary behaviour and institutionalize a clear vision. The decentralization of education in Indonesia has not uniformly empowered citizens to become more involved in Islamic schools. The question remains how to extrapolate from practices at excellent "madrasah" to effectively articulate community enthusiasm for Islamic schooling and school governance nationwide.